Roxas all but collapsed into his chair, half spilling his mixed fruit—or so it was labeled, Roxas was never really sure exactly what it was—onto the table.

"Whoa, watch it!" Hayner exclaimed, pulling his tray away from the spill, cradling it protectively under his arm.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, if the sugary formaldehyde doesn't kill you, that grease patty you're guarding will." He smiled sweetly at Hayner.

Hayner shrugged. "Food is food," he replied, taking a defiant bite of the burger.

"You know, we could've gone out to that new sushi place that just opened off of Park Place," Olette commented, poking the chicken sandwich on her plate with visible concern.

"Raw fish? Hell no," Hayner protested.

"Didn't you just say 'food is food'?" Roxas asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Well besides that, sushi is expensive. Cafeteria food is cheap. Does it look like I'm made out of money?" Hayner continued. "I mean, I know my looks are golden and all, but—"

"Do you want my chicken sandwich?" Olette interrupted.

"I mean yeah, if you don't want it," Hayner replied, plucking the chicken sandwich off the tray and dropping it onto his tray.

Olette shook her head, smiling. "The only foolproof way to get Hayner to shut up. Offer him free food." She pulled the tray back, picking the bag of chips off her tray. "Anyway, it was just a suggestion."

"Hayner is Olette's well-trained pup at this point. Good boy, Hayner!" Pence added, laughing.

"If you don't mind the fleas," Roxas replied. He glanced at Olette, expecting a laugh or added retort but Olette was looking off to somewhere else in the cafeteria.

Hayner held his finger up, attempting to retort, but he only managed to make a few garbled noises through the wad of food still in his mouth.

"Roxas?" Olette asked, her voice about an octave higher than usual. She returned from her gaze into the distance to look at Roxas.

Great, the voice. What now? He looked at Hayner and Pence, a questioning look on his face. Hayner, his wide eyes rivaling Roxas's, shrugged quickly, pretending to look extra invested in the food in front of him. Pence returned to the math homework in front of him, scribbling fervently between bites of pizza sticks.

"Why don't you ask Naminé to sit with us?" Olette asked.

Roxas's stomach lurched in protest. Oh yeah. That. He hated this whole sort-of-lying-to-his-friends thing. Hell, who was he kidding? He was definitely lying to his friends. He glanced across the cafeteria, noticing Naminé's bright blonde hair, somehow easily visible among the throng of activity in the cafeteria. Her hair looked nearly white as it reflected the harsh cafeteria lighting. She was sitting alone at a table off to the side, holding a sketchpad so close to her face that only her forehead was visible from where Roxas was sitting. A pang of guilt came resolutely from his chest. He turned to look back at Olette. Roxas briefly considered spilling his guts—confessing that the mysterious not Naminé was actually really not Naminé, but instead a flaming redhead (literally flaming). But as soon as he considered it, his imagination conjured the hurt, maybe even disgusted looks on his friends' faces. Yeah, no, not today.

"Um, I don't know. She's kind of shy. I don't know if she would be comfortable," he added. If they invited Naminé over, it would definitely be uncomfortable. For everyone. Roxas shifted uncomfortably. He picked up his fork and began stirring his fruit cup distractedly.

"Aw, Roxas, come on. We want her to be comfortable with us, we're your friends! Besides, she knows you and she knows me." Olette pulled her lips into a slight pout, her eyes shining imploringly.

Roxas eyed her skeptically. "What do you mean, 'she knows you'?" He gulped a little. If Olette was good friends with Naminé, that spelled huge trouble for Roxas. One girl-to-girl conversation and it would all be over. He tried feebly to hold a poker face, but his hand was starting to twitch. He went back to stirring the fruit.

"We've talked," Olette retorted, looking slightly offended.

"By 'you've talked' do you mean that you talked for twenty minutes and Naminé just sort of stared and nodded at you a couple of times?" He was banking on what he remembered about Naminé. He couldn't remember much about their weird elementary relationship stint, but she'd been in his chemistry class two years ago. Once they were paired up as lab partners and they'd still only said about a total of seven words to each other the entire time.

Olette narrowed her eyes. "No, she was actually on the cheer squad last year," she replied simply.

Roxas sputtered. "What?" He realized quickly this looked bad on his part, considering boyfriends were probably supposed to actually know things about their girlfriends. God, being a fake boyfriend was harder than being a real one. "I mean, she—uh, she never told me that."

"I mean, she didn't actually cheer because after like the first practice she was basically sidelined the whole year from some ankle injury. But yeah. She usually sat in the grass or on the bleachers during practices, her face buried in that sketchbook."

"Oh," Roxas replied. He looked at Naminé again, trying to conjure up a look of affection. What was something he looked at affectionately? He stared harder, his eyes widening a little as her bright blue eyes turned to brilliant green and her blonde hair took on a hue of blazing red. Oh, what, is that some kind of sick joke? He smacked himself in the head.

"You know, she asked me for a picture of you once," Olette said, smiling a little.

"What?" Roxas briefly considered spearing a piece of the fruit and actually downing it—or even full on swallowing the entire contents. Maybe he'd go unconscious and not have to deal with this whole situation anymore.

"I mean, I thought it was a little weird at the time, but now that the two of you are dating, it makes sense." She smiled a little dreamily, resting her head on the palms of her hands. "It's cute, now, actually."

"You mean, you gave it to her?" Roxas's asked, his voice rising incredulously. "Wait, what photo did you give her?"

Olette raised her eyebrows, skipping the subject. "Roxas, that is not the point. The point is, you should ask Naminé to sit with us, right Hayner?"

"Oh, would you look at that, all finished! Better go throw away my tray and head to class," Hayner said shoving the last of his food in his mouth all at once, skirting off as quickly as possible.

"Pence?" Olette pressed.

"Oh, um, I just remembered, I'm supposed to be making up a test for—uh, government, right now. Gotta go!" Pence stammered with only slight coherence. He gave a half-hearted sheepish smile at Roxas before shuffling off.

Roxas rolled his eyes. Thanks guys. Great acting skills, by the way.

"Boys," Olette sighed.

"You're telling me," Roxas breathed.

Did he say that out loud?

Olette furrowed her brow in confusion but before she could comment, the lunch bell rang.

Thank God. Roxas high-tailed it out of the cafeteria as quickly as he could.


Roxas eyed the crosswalk in the distance familiarly, pulling his car up slowly. He tried to ignore the fact that his stomach was busy tying itself in knots. He tried to ignore the thoughts in the back of his mind telling him not to stop the car here, telling him to just floor it and go home. He shook his head. No, he could handle this. Axel was leaning against the stop sign, his hair sort of blending in with the color of the road sign. For some reason, Roxas snorted at this.

Axel grinned, strolling up to Roxas's window. Roxas rolled the window down, determined to give Axel a bit of a hard time.

"Sorry, do I know you?"

"You know, I was thinking the same thing. Were you that guy at the gay bar last week making eyes at me?" Axel tilted his head, jutting his hip out.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Shut up and get inside, already"

"Not the first time I've heard that."

Roxas scoffed, narrowing his eyes. He started rolling up the window.

"Hey! Come on, Rox." Axel reached through the window, curling his fingers around the glass.

"If you want to keep those, you should move them," Roxas replied simply.

"Interesting. What if I move you, instead? Do I get to keep you?" Axel crooned innocently. He opened the door, leaning in and wrapping his arms under Roxas and around his back, scooping him up bridal-style. Roxas immediately tensed, his face beginning to burn.

"Wha—hey! Axel, what the hell? Put me down!"

"Aw, but you said—"

"Axel! Seriously! "

Axel sighed. "Alright, fine." He walked over to the other side of the car, managing somehow to get it open while still wrangling Roxas in his arms. He deposited Roxas in the seat, wandering around to the other side and getting in.

"You're a dick," Roxas mumbled.

"You know, as a gay man, I don't really find that all that insulting." Axel replied.

Roxas ignored him, turning to glare out the window. He crossed his arms. What kind of right did Axel have to manhandle him like that? He shivered a little at the lack of contact, despite himself. Great, more mutiny.

"Aw, Rox, don't get all sulky on me. Come on. As cute as it is, it makes me feel guilty."

Roxas gave him a feigned smile, but it came out more as him bearing his teeth.

"I told you I wanted to show you something. Come on, it'll be fun. Put on your seatbelt so I don't accidentally kill you on the way there," Axel prodded.

Roxas looked at him a little incredulously. "Why did you even bother asking me to come to the crosswalk if we were just going to go somewhere else? I could've picked you up at Demyx's. I've been there twice now." Roxas still couldn't help but spit out Demyx's name, despite trying to keep his voice as even as possible.

"Tsk. Roxas. I can't believe you're going to ignore my gesture. This is the place we met." He gestured around emphatically, as if that would somehow drive his point home.

Roxas stared at him. "Why would I want to be reminded of that?"

"I don't know, it's romantic and shit. Although, then again, in front of Demyx's is where we first made ou—"

"Okay, okay, I'm putting on my seat belt. Let's just go." Roxas tried feebly to fight the rouge that was again settling all over his cheeks.

Axel grinned. "Roxas, I thought you'd never ask."


Roxas was following Axel again, eyeing the crumbling walkway. Déjà vu, he thought, Axel leading me into some decrepit place, probably towards my inevitable demise. Although, technically, last time he hadn't actually died, but he was still entertaining the idea that Axel had somehow drugged him, which was a worthy cause of concern.

Axel grabbed Roxas's hand. "Come onnnn, slow poke." He dragged Roxas down the stairs.

Roxas, a little stunned by the contact, couldn't help but notice how warm Axel's hand was. He briefly wondered if his own hands were sweating. He tried to worm his hand out of Axel's but Axel wouldn't let go.

Suddenly Roxas lurched forward, only to rebound backwards from Axel's hand still clasping his. Having been sucked into his own thoughts, he'd failed to notice that Axel had stopped abruptly moments before.

"Whoa, someone's eager," Axel remarked, raising his eyebrows.

Roxas looked around, taking in the surroundings. He furrowed his brow.

A train station?

"What, are you too cheap to even take me for a crappy cup of coffee now? Gonna sit and watch the glory of public transportation?"

"Hell, Rox. You got me. Guess we can just go home now." Axel turned, beginning to walk away.

Roxas looked after him briefly, feeling something twist inside him as he looked at Axel's turned back getting further and further away. He sighed.

"Axel, wait!"

Axel stopped. He turned slowly around. Roxas couldn't place the look that was on his face. Roxas felt sort of terrible. He'd begun trying to think of some acceptable way to apologize when Axel interrupted him.

"I knew you'd be calling my name sooner or later. I guess that makes this sooner."

Roxas picked up a crumbled piece of rock, hurling it in Axel's direction.

"Hey, watch it!"

"What are we even doing here anyway? Are we catching a train to join the travelling circus that you crawled out of?"

Axel laughed, wandering back over to Roxas. "No. We're waiting." He sat down against a paved wall, stretching one arm behind him. He patted the ground next to him, looking up at Roxas expectantly.

Roxas looked incredulous. "Waiting? Gee, I'm glad I came. Wouldn't have wanted to miss this for the world."

"Hey, don't be mister presumptuous. I didn't even tell you what we're waiting for."

Roxas sighed, shifting his weight into his hip. He crossed his arms.

"What are we waiting for, then?"

"Oh, I can't tell you that. It's a surprise." Axel replied simply.

Roxas groaned. He picked up another rock and threw it at Axel, only this time Axel caught it.

"Aw, thanks, Roxas. You shouldn't have. It's what I always wanted." He cuddled the rock affectionately against his cheek.

Roxas ambled over, sliding down next to Axel. He immediately punched Axel in the arm.

"Hey, check this out," Axel spoke suddenly, excitement in his voice, completely ignoring Roxas's attempted attack. He held up the rock in his hand, in front of Roxas's face.

Roxas stared at him. "Okay? It's a rock. I don't –"

"Shh! Just watch." Axel placed the rock in his other hand, closing his palm around it. He waved his free hand over the top. "Okay, now say the magic word."

"What? I don't know the magic word."

"Hmmm. You're right. Try 'Axel's sexy'."

Roxas again was looking at Axel blankly. He snorted. "I am not saying that."

"Fine, I guess you don't believe in magic. That's sad for you." He drew his long legs up under his chin, peering at Roxas over them, his eyes shining and his lips drawn into a slight pout.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. I'll say it, but not for you. I'm saying it so no magic forces come out to smite me for not believing in magic." He took a deep breath. "Axel's—Axel's sexy."

"Roxas, I didn't know you felt that way," Axel placed his free hand on his chest, feigning surprise.

Roxas immediately smacked him on the shoulder. "If I don't see magic in about five seconds, I'm going to find the biggest rock here and clobber you with it."

Axel placed his finger on his lip as though he were contemplating something. "You know, I'm not sure if you said the magic words loud enough for this to work. Could you say the magic words again?"

"Ugh. Axel's sexy," Roxas said, this time a little louder.

"Hmm. Little louder, maybe?"

"Axel's sexy," Roxas replied flatly but louder, rolling his eyes.

"You know—I think the magic gods are hard of hearing. You should try yelling the magic words."

"I'm pushing you in front of the first moving train I see."

Axel laughed. "Okay, fine, no need. It was probably loud enough. Watch," He opened his hand, showing the rock again, picking it up and holding it out for Roxas to examine. He then placed the rock back into his hand, closing his hand around it and waving his opposite hand over his closed hand. He then opened his closed hand to reveal an empty hand, sans rock.

"Is that all—"

Axel was then reaching toward Roxas. Oh god. His hand was suddenly brushing against Roxas's hair. Roxas could smell the smoke and spice clouding his senses again. He gulped, again rendered immobile. I said I believed in magic and this is how I get repaid? Roxas stared up at Axel, wide doe eyes meeting Axel's heavily lidded ones. Roxas nearly relented, almost leaning a little toward Axel in an odd stint of some kind of magic hypnosis. Suddenly, Axel's hand was pulling away from Roxas's hair, retreating until it was again a safe distance away from Roxas. He opened his hand, revealing the small gray rock sitting in his hand.

Did he really just fall for that the 3rd time? God, he was dumb.

"You really did crawl out from a circus, didn't you?"

Axel laughed, his voice deep and melodic. "No, I just know a few magic tricks. Although, if the circus thing turns you on, I'll go with it." He winked.

"You still have that rock? I'd like to gouge it into your eyeball. Hand it over, please."

"Mmm, tempting, but no. I'd prefer to have both my eyes. All the better to see you with, my dear," he purred, grinning coquettishly, taking Roxas's hand.

"You know what magic trick I'd really like to see? You making yourself disappear," Roxas replied, smiling sweetly.

"Tsk, feisty. Here, let me show you another magic trick."

"Does this one also involve you stroking my hair? Because if so, no thank you."

"Give me your hands." Axel turned cross-legged to face Roxas, pulling Roxas's hands towards his lap.

"Hey, whoa, hold on—" Roxas's eyes widened, visibly disturbed by where Axel was pulling his hands.

Axel laughed especially hard at this. Roxas glared at him, waiting for Axel's laughter at him to subside. Axel kept laughing, until he was nearly doubled over on the ground. Roxas shook his head, cracking a smile.

"Hahaha—sorry—hahaha. Okay—heh. Here, open your hand."

Roxas relented.

"See, nothing there, right? Okay, now close your hand and close your eyes."

Roxas glowered at him.

"Come on, I won't bite."

"Says the one who was just quoting the big bad wolf!"

Axel pulled the pouting face again.

Roxas groaned, letting his eyes fall shut—if only to stop having to see that sad excuse of a puppy dog face.

Axel's two hands closed around Roxas's. Roxas could again feel the warmth emanating from Axels' hands, warming Roxas's hand by conduction. He could hear the soft sound of Axel breathing. Roxas struggled to make his own breaths come in even waves, but they kept getting caught in his throat every time Axel lightly thumbed Roxas's hand. The soft movements were sending heated vibrations through his hand, making him impossibly scatter-brained. He envied the calm rhythm of Axel's breathing. He wanted to do something that would throw Axel off his game, something that would make his lungs stop, his palms sweaty, make him at a loss for words and snappy comebacks. A couple of rather provocative ideas pervaded his mind, making him squirm uncomfortably. He wanted to throw Axel off his game, but not that badly. He suddenly felt incredibly vulnerable and more than a little self-conscious. He could feel Axel's hands squeeze his tightly before letting go completely.

"Okay, roll your hand around a little."

Roxas wrinkled his forehead, but again conceded to Axel's demands—which, by the way, was not going to become a regular occurrence. Roxas shivered to imagine that, especially considering some of Axel's crackpot ideas and sexual inclinations. He slightly moved his hand, feeling something solid suddenly rolling around in his hand.

He opened his eyes, finding Axel gazing at him with a momentarily wistful look on his face. Um, that's not weird at all. Roxas opened his hand, finding the small stone sitting in his hand.

Axel grinned. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Your magic trick was to give me my weapon of choice back? You may be good at magic tricks but you're not too smart."

"What can I say? It's worth it to see you smile."

Roxas flopped to lie on his back, immediately regretting it when his head sharply met the unforgivingly cold, hard ground. He hissed a little in pain. "How much longer do we have to wait?" Roxas whined.

Axel looked up. Roxas followed his gaze, noticing a small screen displaying a few train arrival times.

"I'd say not too much longer," he replied, reaching in his back pocket and retrieving a pack of cigarettes. He fumbled in his other pocket for the lighter.

Roxas stared up at the sky, wrinkling his nose as the smell of smoke pervaded his senses. He coughed, waving at the air. "Are you planning on dying at the age of 30?"

Axel snorted. "Jesus, Roxas, 30? Does anybody plan that? 25 would be the age to do it." He smiled wryly.

"Well, unlike you, I'd actually prefer to, you know, not turn my lungs into an ash tray," Roxas spoke into the air, not bothering to look specifically at Axel.

"Your lung span seemed just fine last night," Axel remarked.

Roxas groaned. Good lord, did he really need to bring that up? He turned on his side, away from Axel, hiding his blush. "On second thought, keep smoking. Maybe it'll kill me first."